Superintendent John White to hold town hall meetings with teachers

After a bruising fight in the state Legislature over Gov. Bobby Jindal's signature package of education bills, the state's top school official, Superintendent John White, is launching a statewide outreach effort to talk with educators around the state about implementing the proposals Jindal signed into law on Thursday. He's calling this push, "Louisiana Believes."

John McCusker, The Times-PicayuneState Superintendent John White

White, who became superintendent in January after leading the state's Recovery School District in New Orleans for less than a year, has a lot of work to do and a lot of suspicion to overcome. The state is already rolling out a new teacher evaluation system, overhauling the way it grades the quality of schools and moving to new federal grade-level standards known as the Common Core.

With the passing of Jindal's legislation, the state Department of Education that White leads will have a whole new set of challenges:

Putting in place a statewide private school voucher program;

Coming up with a process for vetting local groups that want the power to authorize new charter schools;

Approving and cataloging the different outside courses that high school students will now be able to take advantage of with public money.

Cognizant that many educators in Louisiana view these changes warily, White announced Thursday that the department will be holding a series of 22 meetings with teachers and administrators in 16 cities around the state. That will include 11 town-hall style meetings with teachers.

"It's going to take all of us, working together, to support the success of our teachers and students," White said in a statement. "So we're moving forward immediately to work on a plan with our teachers, principals, and superintendents."